5 killed after car falls off bridge

Police say 4 victims may be from Illinois

CUDAHY, Wis. — A car plunged off a bridge just south of Milwaukee early Saturday morning and burst into flames, killing all five men who were in the vehicle, police said.

The car, which was traveling south on Interstate Highway 794, did not stop at the end of the offramp at East Layton Avenue, according to a news release from the Cudahy Police Department. The car crashed through a concrete barrier and plunged about 35 feet to the roadway below.

Police believe that four of the men may be from Illinois and that the fifth was from Wisconsin, said Cudahy Police Capt. Stan Kay.

"They were very badly burned," he said. The girlfriend of one crash victim was helping police piece together more information about the others.

The car had Wisconsin license plates, but police said they believe the rest of the victims were from Illinois.

"Illinois is a good possibility," said Cudahy Police Chief Richard Wargin. "That's based on the fact that some documents were in the vehicle, but we don't know if the documents match the people for certain."

The victims ranged from age 16 to 38, Kay said.

The St. Francis, Wis., Fire Department received a call shortly after 3 a.m. When firefighters arrived on the scene, the car was still in flames, said St. Francis fire Lt. Mike Corso. Firefighters discovered the bodies after the flames were put out, police said.

The car exited at East Layton Avenue, where a stoplight marks a T-intersection. Instead of turning right or left, the car continued straight, going through a concrete barricade and a fence, said Cudahy fire Lt. Gary Posda.

There were no skid marks at the accident site, Wargin said.

Bouquets of flowers and candles marked the spot where the car went off the road, and people placed roses in the chain-link fence on the overpass. A scorched patch of gravel marked the area where the car landed. A headlight assembly and part of a car's bumper lay nearby, and the edge of the sidewalk was ripped up leading to the crash spot.

Karrie Schurrer, 30, who works at a bar near the crash site, does not remember any major accidents in the area.